Title: Squee's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors
Author: Jhonen Vasquez
Publisher: Slave Labor Graphics
Copyright: 2004
ISBN: 0943151244
Pages: 144
Price: $15.95
Rating: 10
Synopsis:
"This book reprints material previously seen in SQUEE! #1-4 and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac #1-7, so your reasons for buying this book are beyond me. Perhaps it is the mighty neat-o new cover and back cover that has lured you into my evil scheme to make you get the same stuff again. Perhaps you just do not feel complete without this collection. I cannot truly understand your motives. This font is hard to read, huh?"
--Jhonen Vasquez
This collection also includes Vasquez comics such as "The Meanwhiles," "Happy Noodle Boy," and "Wobbly Headed Bob."
Review:
This book gets major bonus points for being straight up, off the wall, and sickeningly gruesome. Jhonen Vasquez's style has been the object of cult worship for many years now, and it is only today that I finally exposed myself to his other works (I, like many of the deprived, knew of his existence only as an extension of Invader Zim's) and realized why. His artwork is both bold and grotesque, never apologizing and never holding back. Disturbing character designs and scenes grab hold of your consciousness and seep into your memory, scarring your mind until your brain cells burn with the agonizing pain of DOOM (as Vasquez might put it). His humor is sick, macabre, and insanely random. In the midst of all the insanity that is his comics, he somehow manages to convey meaningful points (a feat in itself), such as the fact that the American educational system is doing nothing but producing conformist zombies and the importance of dust mites to the ecosystem. Did I mention the infamous DOOM we all know and adore? Warning to the faint of heart: do not read this graphic novel if you are easilly nauseated, closed-minded, religiously zealous, or an uptight fanboy/girl who is insulted by a creator's every flaw. This Vasquez seems to purposely make himself come off as an arrogant bastard; but I'll tell you this: if his comedic, satiric, comicking skills don't make him 1337, I don't know what does.
